


the ballad of feral youth.

by sherry_gin



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Ever - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, but just hear me out, listen guys i have no idea whta im doing..., listen thats a really weird set of tags, there will be warnings in chapter notes!!, uuuh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-04-04 00:24:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14008080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherry_gin/pseuds/sherry_gin
Summary: Sidon lives in a house with too many cars in the driveway, and Link lived in a house with too few. They’re tryna keep their heads above water, though.(Sidon sees the sea with every blink. He sees it in the feral fields of nomeolvides that buck and rear their five petaled manes. He sees the sea in blue eyes, and he sees it in the ugly butterflies burning in Link’s lawn.)(Or: An ode to the homesick youth and how they try to stop speaking in metaphors.)





	1. you belong to a song, salty eyes

**Author's Note:**

> this is like!! my tenth time trying to post and if it doesnt work imma fuckin be pissed!!!  
> boi i had no idea the snippet i posted on tumblr would blow up kinda sasdbjkhd uh this is the first fic ive ever posted and im?? hype!!  
> each chapter/section/pov has different songs thatll go w it, since im really musically inspired (the playlist for this fic has 50 songs) so check those songs out! the lyrics for chap 1 come from the song Salty Eyes by The Matches!!!  
> anyways just so yall know there r exactly 2 (two) white characters in this cus ive been able to write exactly 1 (one) hispanic character in fanfic so i took my chance and ran w it.  
> (if there r any editing mistakes please forgive me lmao.)

_.two days ago, may 29th. 11:42 AM._

 

_may’s mood: stormy and hot_

_super rich kids- frank ocean_

_youth- daughter_

 

_-_

 

It rained on the twenty-ninth; needles with an intent to pierce that spun the intro to a ballad. Rhythmic melancholy that ran through the cracks of the home and permeated the atmosphere. The summer sun dripping honey rays through the window was absent, and Sidon- in his young romanticised sense of things- missed the heat like an old lover.

 

Morning was it’s usual loud affair, _tíos_ and _tías_ fussing over bubbling oil and bickering. Though, even that couldn’t mask the rain that snapped against the driveway. It seemed that their house with a view of the ocean if you squinted was drowning in a shallow droplet. (Where had the songbirds gone?)

.

.

Suddenly he was staring out straight at the devil.

 

It stared from the rose bush, bleeding chasm eyes the only thing not writhing and flickering like an eldritch horror. It dragged time to a halt, and pinned it to the mud with one long curved talon. Everything crumbled away as his world narrowed to his pulse thundering in his veins and the devil’s red eyes. He was staring into the eyes of something from a horror flick and he was fucking _terrified_.

 

A droplet tumbled from where it was precariously perched on a rose petal, and it tripped until it landed on a puddle. That’s how long it took for Sidon’s world to shatter, reshape and repeat.

 

He blinked, and color bled back oversaturated into the apartment complexes garden. The ripples in the puddle rolled into waves.

 

He balked immediately, whacking his head and elbow into the wall. Once again, time slowed. His phone slipped from shaking palm to palm before dropping to the linoleum. He suddenly couldn’t decide which is worse: the devil’s cracked skin or the sickening crunch his phone made.

 

_.may 31st, going on to the first. summer._

 

Sidon plunged into the icy depths, the cold seeping down to his bones. His hair was a beacon of red in the hazily lit pool, obscuring his vision like slow moving blood. Chlorine burned at his eyes, but he forced them to stay open. Small bubbles floated to the top, and he crossed his legs when he touched the bottom, anchoring himself down.

 

He closed his eyes.

.

.

_He tried to smile, and prayed to any god above that it wouldn’t appear like a grimace._

 

_If the worried look on Dunma’s face was anything to go by, it hadn’t worked._

 

_“Sidon, we’re honestly really worried ‘bout you, you didn’t show up this morning and now you’re avoiding us? Like- ‘s there something going on?”_

 

_He didn’t see the point in telling them. They’d know soon enough, anyways._

 

_“Just need some quiet.”_

_._

_._

Sidon forced his eyes open again. Nothing had changed, but he still expected to wake up any moment, sweating and gasping as he threw off the sheets. In his mind’s eye, he would wake up, cross the hall, and his sister would still be there, instead of _gone_.

 

He still expected that at any moment everything would turn out to be a fever dream.

 

His eyes flicked around the span of the pool one last time before planting his feet down and propelling himself up. His head broke the surface, and he swam back to the edge.

 

He hadn’t bothered swimming back to the shallows, and instead just dug his nails into the cracks of the linoleum and hauled himself up. His muscles strained after hours of swimming, but he eventually managed to flop onto the cold tile. The cold air stabbed needles into his skin after spending so long in the pool. He didn’t mind, though- it made him feel alive.

 

It was kind of ironic, he was finding solace in the thing that caused his grief. Was this what Mipha felt? ( _What she’s_ feeling, a tiny part of him tried to remind. _She’s still out there. Somewhere.)_

 

He kept his eyes on the ceiling, not really looking.

 

_Breathe in._

 

_Breathe out._

 

Sidon wasn’t sure how long he was going to stay there, but after what could’ve been hours, the feeling of his wet hair sticking uncomfortably to his skin came back to him. Everything came back.

 

Cautiously, he sat up and pushed himself onto his feet, stumbling to the glass table near the pool that his cracked phone was on. His legs shook, and he wobbled slightly as he flipped his phone over.

 

 _2 messages from **bad**_ **_b_ ** **_azz_ **

_1 missed called from **bad**_ **_b_ ** **_azz_ **

_1 voicemail from **bad**_ **_b_ ** **_azz_ **

_27 messages from the group **country grils mske do**_

_1 message from **Zelda Hyrule**_

_1 message from **hermana (m m m m ipha)**_

 

The time read 11:42 PM, and he breathed out a soft _fuck._ He’d been swimming for four hours.

He opened the messages from Bazz first, running a hand down his face. It was dated ten o'clock, and they were simple question marks and a thumb down emoji. _Of course._ The voicemail, however, was dated for ten minutes after the last text was sent and was five minutes long.

 

He pressed play, and there was silence on the other end, before an unexpected crackling noise that made Sidon flinch echoed around the pool.

 

“ _Shit,_ sorry sorry. Um- so, Sidon. Listen, I’m honestly really sorry I was such a huge ass. I-I had no idea about Mipha,” There’s a soft sniffle and a small hiccup. “And I’m so so _so_ sorry, dude. I-It’s totally okay if you need some time, but please just remember that we’re here for you-:

 

He deleted the voicemail, and left Bazz’s texts on read. He was too tired for any of this, but still, he opened the rest of the messages simply to get rid of the notifications.

 

_Message from: **Zelda Hyrule**_

**_11:13  PM_ **

_Hello. Mipha left some things at my house, but I unfortunately cannot get ahold of her. Please pass on the message that you or Mipha are free to come pick them up at any time. Thank you._

 

He didn’t want to be the one to break the news to Zelda, so he left her on read, too.

 

_Message from: **hermana (m m m m ipha)**_

**_2 days ago  7:08 PM_ **

_yo!!! smaller, less cute, hermano!!!!!!!! i’ll be at zelda’s house for a bit!!!! tell papá for me pls <3 <3 <3_

 

He put his phone face down again, and the final moments of the thirty-first day of May are spent counting up each regret from the thirtieth.

 

_.may 30th. summer. (the champions.)_

 

_what r we listening to??_

_die trying- michl_

_fourth of july- sufjan stevens_

_underwaterfall- bearcubs_

 

**.**

 

It rained on the thirtieth, too. Fat, cold raindrops that frolicked arm-in-arm with the howling and biting wind along the island. The old goddess of the sea responded to their feral playfulness in kind, stirring up the waves and making them slice against the shoreline like a guillotine. It had rained through the night- going on to the thirty-first- and death was washed away into the waters.

 

The waves were choppy against the blood smeared sand, and even in the rain and all-engulfing darkness, blood stood out as it melded with murky saltwater. Link’s knees sank into the muddy sand, water lapping at his lap as the tide rushed over him. His limbs tingled with a familiar numbness, and his cheeks were flushed bright as wind, rain and sea assaulted them.

 

“ _Link,_ c’mon. W-we need to go-o.”

 

 _She was out there, though._ He saw her- she had to be! He had seen the way the waves had seemed to yield obediently to her touch, arcing over and around her. The sea was her guardian and she was it’s champion, but it seemed that even the sea could turn under a writhing Calamity’s dance.

 

(He had seen her head dip below the froth, and her last words had drowned with her.)

 

A strong wave knocked him against the sand, and he sputtered on saltwater as he struggled to stay propped up on his elbows. (The sea was trying to claim another.) Saltwater dragged down his face, filling his nose. It lasted only a few seconds before he was dragged out onto muddy sand, but the smell of salt and blood was nauseating.

 

He gasped for breath, hacking in an effort to get saltwater out of his lungs and nose. Urbosa’s fingers were still clamped tight around his arms as she dumped him onto the beach, and they were bound to leave bruises. Two more to add to his growing collection of bruises and cuts, new and old.

 

“Link, c’mon,” Urbosa stepped in front of his view of the waves, snapping once. Behind them, thunder screamed an anguished cry and lightning illuminated them. The light was just enough to see Urbosa’s grief and anguish burn like dying embers as it raked across her face.

 

She didn’t waver as she hauled him up and swung one of his arms over her shoulder. He considered struggling briefly, but their height difference was laughable and he was _so tired_. He let his head hang as Urbosa hauled his sorry ass up the shore. _(Pathetic.)_

 

“Let me go, or I swear to God-” Revali’s threat was cut off by his own shrill shriek, and Link snapped his head over to the rocks where waves struck the strongest.

 

Daruk had no trouble throwing the smaller, lithe boy over his shoulder, but the latter was having none of that.

 

“You know I'm the only one with a chance of following her! Just _let. Me. Go!”_ He punctuated the last words with a violent thrash that nearly threw the two of them off the surf.

 

Link looked away.

 

-

 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, silence fit like raindrops on their tongue for the duration of the drive to the mansion. Zelda, being the least injured, was the designated driver, and the gash on her hand smeared blood over the steering wheel.

 

Adrenaline- their temporary savior- took a new approach, and it coursed through their veins as lead instead of life. _What a fucking mess_ , a part of Link’s head that wasn’t violently disassociating and shutting down thought.

 

 _(A mess you let happen,_ the ugly part singsonged.)

 

“Turn on some fucking music, God,” Revali’s voice was rough and cracked halfway through, making his snarl less furious and more grief-stricken. “Literally anything would be better than _this.”_

 

There was no need for him to elaborate on what _this_ was; they’d be hearing the monsoon in their nightmares and the rain was more of a nightmare than the thunder, now.

 

Urbosa, closest to Zelda and occasionally murmuring things the others would pretend not to hear, snorted half heartedly and turned on the radio.

 

Any other time, Link would’ve taken a moment to savor the “liminal beauty” of the pelting rain, the storm wall rapidly approaching from the sea and the melancholy music. Any other time, but _not._ _Fucking. Now._

 

 _.the evil it spread like a fever ahead_  
_it was night when you died, my firefly_  
_what could i have said to raise you from the dead?  
_ _oh could i be the sky on the_

_fourth of july?._

 

The music swelled until it wormed its way into the cracks of their metaphorical masks and minds. Lyrics of twining thread spun around their heads as a bittersweet ode to the lost. It twisted and twisted around their hearts, tugging and winding into knots until it _squeezed._

 

“What the fuck? I-I changed my mind. Anything but fucking this song.”

 

**-**

 

Guilt sticks to their hearts like the summer humidity sticks to their hair.

 

The music that tangled itself in them was changed to “Top 70’s Songs on 7.” The music released their hearts, but strangled their jaws instead.

 

They were left to swim in silence with guilt weighing them down.

 

-

They flipped on each of the lights in the empty mansion until it glowed.

 

Zelda’s father was out on some business trip or other, as usual, so they were camped out in her living room in various positions. Collapsed onto another, stronger, girl’s side. Sprawled out across and perched atop the back of the couch. Link was the lone outlier: curled into ball on a loveseat, fists clenched over his knees. (His white knuckles made a pretty contrast to the blood on them.)

 

“We have to tell Sidon _something,”_ Her voice shook, the loudest thing aside from the rain and Revali’s tapping foot.

 

“And what do you propose we tell him?” Revali mocked. “‘Oh hey, just to let you know, your sister’s missing and we’re the reason why!’ He’ll never fucking believe us!”  

 

She flinched, but for once Revali’s expression didn’t display any satisfaction.

 

“Hate to admit it, princess,” She grimaced at Urbosa’s use of the pet name. “But he’s right.”

 

\- _(may 30th. 11:30 PM)_

 

“I don’t know what to say,” She whispered to the room- empty save for Link. “I can’t do this.”

 

\- _(may 30th. 11:59 PM)_

 

“I’ll text him. Tomorrow.”

 

\- _(may 31st. 7:49 AM)_

 

 _Take your time, not like we’re doing anything,_ is what he wanted to say. Instead, he hugged her closer and pretended the sun wasn’t spilling through the window.

 

\- _(june.)_

 

Their guilt stuck like the summer humidity, and May slipped away eventually. (Five blocks down, regrets are being counted, but in an empty mansion- regrets only pile up unchecked to fill in the spaces between.)

 

Maybe in June, Link’s life won’t be a fucking metaphor.

 

**-**

 

 _.the sun'll come out_  
_nothing good ever comes easy_  
_i know times are rough_  
_but winners dont quit_  
_so dont you give up,_  
_the sun'll come out_  
_but we've been struggling endless days_  
_someday we'll find love  
_ c _us after the storm’s_

_when the flowers bloom._

-after the storm, kali uchis

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just an update about whats going on

hey guys! so this fic is pretty much abandoned bcus i just lost interest and just never got around to keep writing. lmao i have the entire plot planned out so i might come back to finish it one day, but this is pretty much abandoned till then. 

im hoping to post a mccree overwatch centric series sometime soon so maybe watch out for that if you want. 

adios

 


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